This post is a hard one for me.
Hard only because
No words can express how much
this man means to me.....
No words can explain how much he has taught me...
No words can amount to how much I Love my Dad
BUT I guess this post will have to do :)
Since I was a young girl I have always been
(and will always be)
a Daddy's girl!
My Dad and I have always been very close.
Even at a young age I LOVED
to go anywhere and everywhere with him!
As a young girl I can remember my Dad walking me to the bus stop
EVERY morning with a HUGE smile on his face.
He would wait for the bus to arrive
then
like clock work,
EVER MORNING
he would say,
"Selu, I love you! You're a WINNER!"
Somedays I would laugh,
others I would smile
but one day I asked him what that even meant....
And to this day his reply burns deep in my memory
"Selu, you're a winner means YOU can do anything you set your mind to.
You're a winner means you don't EVER give up.
and You're a FOTU, all Fotu's are WINNERS!".
I've thought about those very words
many times throughout my life....
They've gotten me through the long, rough days
They've picked me up after I've fallen down
They've stuck with me through out my entire life
and I know they always will
Although my Dad has reminded me of those words
OVER and OVER and OVER again
through out my life thus far
He has also taught me by experience.
One in particular stands out in my mind....
As a sophmore in high school
I (thinking I knew EVERYTHING there is to know about life)
decided school didn't really matter.
Golf was my future and I didn't really care whether I graduated or not.
Now I'm sure this did NOT come as a suprise
to my parents
Because I was always the child pretending to be sick
and staying home from school.
I absolutely dreaded school and would look
for ANY excuse to miss it.
BUT like any good parents they tried
EVERYTHING.
Grounding, taking away cars, shortening curfews
and really anything they could possibly think of.
But I'm a stubborn person
a characteristic I get from my father ;)
and I wasn't about to budge.
So I skipped class
ALL THE TIME
for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!
and as you can imagine my grades suffered
(to say the least)
Looking back now I can honestly say my sophomore and junior
years of high school were THE BEST years of school I ever had!
Probably due to that fact that
1. I was never at school
and
2. All I did was the FUN stuff!
Well my senior year came along
and not at the beginning or half way through
but the LAST term or my senior year
what do ya know?
(maybe I got a LITTLE smarter
or decided that my parents were right)
I now wanted to graduate!
So..... My dad
(bless his heart)
and I went in to meet with my counselor
to see JUST how much catch up I would have to do....
11 credits
I would have to make up ELEVEN credits
in 1 term in order to graduate with my class
Hmmm I thought well this won't be TOO bad.
HA! little did I know what I was in for!
So my high school counselor referred us to another high school
where I could pay for and pick up
ALL the packets I would have to do over the next
month and a half.
So the next day we drove to ogden to meet with the head counselor at this school
This day is one that burns so clearly in my mind.
She was very nice and polite upon first introduction,
then we sat down and showed her my transcript...
She took one look at them
one look at me
and said,
"Do you realize the situation you are in?"
"You could NEVER make this many credits up,
let alone in such a short amount of time!"
"You should know right now,
that you will NOT graduate with your class."
Looking back this was probably the first time in my life
that someone had told me I COULDN'T do something.
Words were far from stuck in my throat
I had nothing to say,
and now the tears began to trickle down my cheeks.
Now granted this was MY OWN fault.
I had decided to play first
and now I was having to pay.
So I reached across the desk to pick up my folder
but as I did my fathers voice stopped me.
"Mam", he said
"please get those packets for my daughter,
we will decide if she can or can't finish them in time."
Now I really didn't know what to do
I was ashamed of myself
and now my Dad was making me feel even more foolish,
clearly I could not finish them if she said so.
She again tried to explain to him
that he would be wasting his time and money
by doing this.
But for those of you who know my father
very few people can say No to him.
So, we paid for the packets and I walked to the car
with my head down thinking how I had just wasted my parents
time and money once again.
But the moments that followed changed my life in a way that words can't explain.
"Selu, look at me" he said.
My eyes, still filled with tears turned upwards
to stare into the face of my father.
"You listen to ME Selu, that lady is wrong!
If I thought she was right I wouldn't have bought those packets.
I know you Selu, and I KNOW that you CAN do this.
She is not going to be the last person in this life
that will tell you that you CAN'T do something.
Don't listen to her!
You WILL finish those packets on time!"
My tears soon came to a stop,
and from that moment on I never had any doubt that I would finish!
Granted, many long sleepless nights were spent deep
in thought over the AWFUL packets.
I hated every minute of it.
But in the end when I walked back into that woman's office
and handed her my completed packets
the look on her face made it ALL worth it.
And as I walked across that stage to receive my diploma
a tear trickled down my cheek
as I thought of my Dad and his love.
That day I learned a most valuable lesson
from a father who cared!
I learned that people will try to keep you from your goals and dreams
they will tell you "you cant!"
they will try to beat you
and when they do
YOU KEEP GOING!
*Dad and I on Graduation Day :)
That day my fathers love was shown
a love that brings tears to my eyes each time I think about it.
I've always wondered how I ever got so lucky
to have such a wonderful Father.....
A father who has loved me un-conditionally
from the very start.
A father who has taught me to Dream BIG
and work hard to reach those dreams.
A father who never gave up on me
no matter how many times I threw a fit on the golf course
no matter how many times I told him, "I quit!"
no matter how many times I decided to make my "own" decisions
and ended up on my knees.
no matter how many times I tried and failed
He never, ever gave up.....
and each time he was by my side
picking me up
wiping my tears
and ready to help me start again.
Today I wasn't home to celebrate his Birthday with him
to kiss his cheeks and sing to him
to give him hugs and reminisce about all our happy times.
BUT I know
that He knows
I love him with all my heart
and every day when I'm working hard towards all my goals and dreams
I think about a loving Dad
that loves me un-conditionally!
I LOVE YOU DAD!
I hope you have the most wonderful birthday :)
and many, many more to come
xoxo
*The beginnings :)
*The Final Dozen
*Mom, Jacqueline, Dad
*Dad and the boys :)
*No words needed :)
*a VERY proud Daddy moment :)
*Mom, Me, Dad
*Dad with shoveling with his little helpers
*Grandpa with his first grandbaby Mischa :)
*Dream Building :)
*Mom, Garrett, DadGarretts Graduation day:)
*Another State Champion :)
*Another State Champion :)
* My Caddy Daddy :)
*once again, Caddy Daddy :)
* Dad and his better half :) Mom!
No comments:
Post a Comment